What is Altai Massage™

The therapeutic and life-enhancing benefits of Altai Massage™

Nature's own nurture through touch and communication.

Altai Massage™ is a unique experience that uses the amazing power of Mother Nature to take you on a journey. On this intimate journey the practitioner works with joints, structure and emotional release of stresses to help the body rediscover the space within by releasing areas of blockages and tension.

Its therapeutic effect is to lift the body and mind to a state of greater clarity, bringing forth new awareness and new ways of living, standing, walking and moving. It is a way of re-educating yourself to experience life in a way that is free, open and expansive with an ease and effortless sense of continuity.

Altai Massage™ therapy builds on theories similar to those of other modalities, and yet is unique among bodywork techniques. Many massage trainers begin demonstrating strokes without providing a base of fundamental theory. This can lead to unimaginative and rote strokes performed without an understanding of the essentials of how a therapist should use their energy properly, avoid injuries, and most importantly, develop a sensitive and effective touch.

Though relatively unknown in the Western world, the basic techniques of Altai Massage™ have been practiced in the Altai region for thousands of years. The philosophical aspects of Altai Massage!" are diverse yet penetrating and reflect the collective wisdom and knowledge of many indigenous traditions of the Altai region of central Eurasia. It has developed from the therapeutic use of touch within the ancient folk medicine of this area, located just north of the Russian borders with Kazakhstan, China, and Mongolia.

Altai Massage™ has been influenced by the ancient healing practices of shamans in this area and shares much of its philosophy with that of Chinese Medicine and the Tibetan and Oriental healing arts of Tai Chi and Yoga.

These traditional practices each stress the importance of natural balance, emphasising the connection between the natural world and its intrinsic order, and how this needs to be reflected in the human body, which itself is part of that natural order.

The Altai Massage™ therapist is encouraged to use powerful visualisations of natural elements to integrate change and movement within the body that is being massaged. It is about transformation, awakening the senses and aligning to the natural rhythms.

"The experience of an Altai Massage™ is like emerging into the light air after bathing in the cool water of an Altai mountain lake."

Altai Massage™ combines a gentle approach with a deep touch, a range of motion, acupressure, reflexology, energy work and stretching. It invites communication and is as pleasurable for the giver as it is

for the receiver, becoming an interchange of energies that is sometimes a catalyst for life change.

The work is very rhythmic and meditative, enabling both the client and practitioner to voyage together into deeper realms of consciousness. Just as the shaman communes and integrates natural healing as they weave the natural energy forces under their control, so the massage therapist learns to work within a deeply focused and meditative state. As in the ancient shamanic dance, the therapist allows movement, breath and technique to flow, like a forest stream racing through its environment between still rock pools.

The body is composed of at least 70% water and an important aspect of the therapist's practice is to facilitate a constant flow within this aqueous medium that mirrors the natural cycles of tidal flow in the oceans. Areas of tension within the body are like dams we have subconsciously built to protect ourselves, which hold pools of water that can become stagnant. By releasing the blockages, the stagnation can be washed away as the energetic essence is replenished and encouraged to continue circulating and cleansing the skeletal and musculature areas.

An equivalent in nature is the spring's source flowing from the mountain stream to the river and eventually to the ocean, bringing a fresh and pure input to all parts that are touched by its passage. The therapist integrates energetic stimulation and healing flow as an impulse to regenerate, restructure and replenish the recipient's own energetic system. It is the aqueous environment that itself is restructured at a molecular level and thus invites itself to be a purer and freer medium for the body's energy flow.

The experience of an Altai Massage™ is like emerging into the light air after bathing in the cool water of an Altai mountain lake. It is about transformation, awakening the senses and working with nature. It is also about communication and is as pleasurable for the giver as it is for the receiver, as it involves an exchange of energy. Our body's communication system works very well, and we can benefit from listening closely to the important messages it holds.

When we receive Altai Massage™ regularly, we gradually become more aware of these signals. This enables us to monitor changes within ourselves, physically, mentally, emotionally and energetically. We learn how to relax and to recognise that we are fragile living beings that are self-aware and in touch with our bodies, and feelings, and possibly our souls.

""We weave our being into existence, accepting the weft and woof life gifts us" Virve Viigand

Foundation Practitioner

The Course is for anyone who would like to bring massage and the art of touch into their lives perhaps with an eye toward a professional qualification or just as a great way to share healing with family and friends read more...

Advanced Practitioner

This course is for massage practitioners who already have the basic knowledge and qualifications of massage, anatomy and physiology. Read more...

Teachers Training

The Course is for qualified Altai Massage™ practitioners who can demonstrate a sufficient portfolio of case studies using the basic techniques.Read more ....

ONLINE Courses

These will be a series of online massage and healing courses set to both offer fundamentals as well as help and ensure the already practicing practitioner gains new skills and insights to advance their practice read more...

A training for Life Health and the Advancement of Human Beingness see more....

Touch is human communication in action, through the body's individual and collective parts and love.Healing starts from the Heart see more...

The magical, unspoilt jewel lying at the heart of Central Asia.When The Divine created the WorldAltai was asked to be the testament to Her Beauty find out more...

The therapeutic and life-enhancing benefits of Altai Massage™Nature's own nurture through touch and communication read more...